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Dire Wolf Books proudly announces that C. S. Johnson’s new saga Once upon a Princess arrives to our catalog. Johnson is the talented author of the popular Starlight Chronicles, which includes Slumbering and Calling. Johnson leaves the world of superheroes for the chance to rework the Sleeping Beauty myth. Beauty’s Curse, the first volume in this new series, is an infectious retelling, focusing on fully realized characters, heart-warming romance, thrilling adventure, and unpredictable innovations.

So you think you know the story of Sleeping Beauty. You can recall the curse the wicked witch places on the baby girl Aurora—that she on her eighteenth birthday will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. You know of the good fairy who tries to help, but who can only turn death into sleep.

But what happens if Princess Aurora of Rhone—Rose to her friends—takes an active role in trying to find a way to break the spell? What happens if she leaves home at thirteen and spends four years as a virtual knight-errant, seeking a way to vanquish the power of Magdalina, the wicked fairy queen who cursed her?

This Rose is no passive damsel in distress, but a young, fiery woman who wishes to take control of her life. Time, however, is running out. On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Rose makes a journey home with her friends and traveling companions—Theo, a priest who holds onto dark thoughts of revenge; Mary, the young and talented fairy who tried to alter Magdalina’s curse; and Ethan and Sophia, young siblings with their own troubled pasts. As Rose rides home, she wonders how she will face the ongoing pressure from her father, King Stefanos, to make a choice between two equally dissatisfying options: abdicate the throne or get married. As Rose returns, all wonder whether she will be able to escape beauty’s curse.